Righty eager to play after missing past two seasons

Published 10:00 pm, Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Stephen Kahn fires a pitch during the Mariners' intrasquad game Monday. Kahn, the Mariners' fifth-round draft pick in 2005, has missed the past two seasons because of knee injuries.

Stephen Kahn fires a pitch during the Mariners' intrasquad game Monday. Kahn, the Mariners' fifth-round draft pick in 2005, has missed the past two seasons because of knee injuries.

Photo: Scott Eklund/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Mariners Notebook: Kahn: Pitcher without a mound

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PEORIA, Ariz. -- There are a lot of unknowns in the overcrowded Mariners clubhouse these days, but perhaps nobody is more of a mystery than Stephen Kahn, the pitcher who doesn't pitch.

Kahn, the Mariners' fifth-round pick in the 2005 draft, hasn't thrown a pitch in a regular minor league game since 2006 after blowing out the anterior cruciate ligaments in both of his knees, the left one costing him the 2007 season and the right the 2008 season.

"I thought maybe there was something wrong with my knees beforehand, because I'd never had problems my whole life and all of a sudden back-to-back they go," said the right-hander from Fullerton, Calif. "But the doctor said it was just two freak things, one after another."

The first injury occurred in the offseason, when he stepped awkwardly while walking down stairs at a gym near his home. More than a year later, at 2008 spring training, a roughhousing teammate picked him up and the other ACL tore when Kahn landed awkwardly.

Kahn's pitching experience the past two years consists of 14 innings in Venezuelan winter ball after the first missed season, then 14 1/3 innings in the Arizona Fall League last fall. His minor league record includes just 69 appearances and 86 innings, during which he amassed 92 strikeouts but also 61 walks.

The injuries have put a lengthy roadblock in what has always been seen as a promising career. Kahn starred at Loyola Marymount University and was the West Coast Conference pitcher of the year in 2004. He was named preseason All-American by Baseball America, and pitched for the gold medal-winning Team USA at the 2004 FISU World University Games.

Bad knees have not diminished Kahn's primary weapon, a mid-90s fastball. That fastball is why a guy who hasn't pitched in two years, and never above Double-A, was invited to the Mariners' major league camp.

"If I was maybe just a high-80s guy, especially being right-handed, there's a million of us," he said. "But I'd like to think that arm strength and velocity gets their attention a little bit."

Kahn, who also features a curveball, slider and changeup, hopes to start the season at Triple-A. Mostly he just hopes to avoid freak injuries.

And he does see an upside to his lost years.

"I'm 25 years old, but my arm's only 23 years old," he said. "I've had lots of time to get in shape, to get strong. So in that way it's been a blessing kind of.

"All that matters now is keeping the arm healthy."

INTRA-ACTIVE: Tuesday featured the second and final intrasquad game, a five-inning affair in which the Mariners beat the Mariners 4-3.

The main draw was the first live action of the spring for starting pitchers Erik Bedard and Brandon Morrow, who pitched opposite halves of the first inning. Bedard, who had arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder last September, gave up only a leadoff single. Morrow gave up three hits and two unearned runs in two-thirds of an inning but was throwing hard.

"Both came out good, and I thought they looked healthy and strong," manager Don Wakamatsu said. "Morrow came out a little rushed, but overall we're real happy."

The Mariners move over to Peoria Stadium on Wednesday for their annual charity game against San Diego. Lefty Ryan Rowland-Smith will be the starting pitcher.

EXTRA BASES: Single-game tickets will go on sale March 14, but the Mariners have created a free online-only presale that begins March 12. All you have to do is sign up by March 9 for the Mariners Mail electronic newsletter at Mariners.com. All tickets sold through any method by April 10 are discounted $1-$2. ... Wednesday's charity game at noon PST will be the first broadcast in the Mariners' flagship return to KIRO-AM/710.